Chapter 34: Northern Wind’s Eagle Guard (Part Five)
"Targeted Fme Breath!"
Another volley of short, fiery breaths unched, engulfing several Eagle Guards in fmes and sending them plummeting to the ground as burning ets.
The few remaining Eagle Guards, as Alger had hoped, barely escaped the se with wyverns in pursuit, retreating from this devastating battlefield, and carrying the red dragon’s terror across the Aa Wastends.
Letting them escape artly due to the time it would take to interrogate Alger, but also a deliberate choice.
The La family’s "Northern Wind Eagle Guard" numbers just over three hundred. In this single skirmish, they lost nearly a tenth of their force—a unit sidered elite across the Northern United Kingdoms.
Days ter, rumors of a "terrifying red dragon" on Storm High Cliffs spread aany regions, and Northwind Fortress’s bounty board dispyed a drawing of a fierce red dragohing fire.
Location: Storm High Cliffs, Charred Ember
Target: Suspected young red dragon, ame "Flying Fme"
Bounty: 5,000 gold s
Tavern talk among adventurers began to simmer, and they boasted about sying dragons. Drunk patrons would often slump over tables, slurring, "If I met that red dragon, I’d have chopped off its head and collected that bounty by now!"
But that’s a story for ter…
………
Alger felt his head throbbing, his memories scattered.
First, he dreamed of a carefree childhood—his mother smiling, gently stroking his hair while softly reading stories. He remembered running through alleys, pying with newfound friends, ughter ringing out everywhere.
But suddenly, the se shifted: in his dream, he found himself sobbing ireets, frantically searg for his parents. Only two disemboweled bodies with eerie symbols carved into their skin y hidden in a shadowy er.
A middle-aged man in fine clothes, his face obscured, patted his shoulder in the dark alley, saying gravely, "It was devils, devils’ offspring who took them from you."
What followed were images of bzing fires, screaming crowds fleeing, rivers of blood flowing, and women cradling g children, begging for mercy, while his silver sword echoed an eagle’s scream...
"No!"
"Hah…hah…"
Alger awoke with a start, gasping. He instinctively reached to his side, sighing in relief only when his hand found the familiar feathers.
It was his giant eagle.
He checked himself over, finding no new wounds, though his standard armor and the Eagle’s Cry silver sword at his waist were missing.
Heavy iron shackles bound his wrists and ankles.
"Where am I?"
Alger sed his surroundings.
Dim and damp, only a weak light from torches on the rock walls illumihe area.
Rocky walls and thick wooden bars surrounded him, while a fat bugbear leaned against the door, sn with its club on the ground. Goblins holding spears patrolled the corridor.
"This must be a monster’s dungeon."
Alger quickly deduced his location.
The red dragon must have cast a sleep spell on him, then thrown him in here. His only goal now was to find a way out, gather intelligence, a back to the Duke.
But with no ons and an iron lock tightly seg his cell, escape seemed unlikely.
"Hey, bugbear, wake up."
Alger waved, trying to draw the dozing bugbear’s attention, hoping to gather information or find an opening to escape.
The bugbear jolted awake and, upon seeing Alger, immediately yelled out.
"Go tell Lord Dolo, the human’s awake!"
Alger lowered his voice, addressing the bugbear guard.
"Do you want gold?"
"Give me the keys, and I have..."
"Ptui!"
The bugbear spat at him.
It grabbed the club from the ground, turned away with a dismissive snort, muttering, "You humans think you’re so clever—think we’re stupid, huh?"
"We’ve already stripped you , nothi on ya. Just a penniless beggar."
"Hey, someone!"
"This human’s awake!"
As the bugbear’s booming shout echoed, goblins scrambled to pass the message along, quickly reying it beyond the dungeon.
"Damn it!"
"Let me out!"
Alger gripped the bars, shaking them violently. The s ked with a loud "k, k," but this door, which even an ogre couldn’t break, wouldn’t yield to a weakened human. It was a futile waste of strength.
After a while, the sturdy wooden bars remained unmoved, and Alger finally abahe idea of breaking through.
Regaining his posure, he sat down and began to think through a strategy.
"That red dragon spared my life for a reason."
"It’s going to interrogate me."
"This i likely intends to harm the Duke and carry out its wicked pns—maybe plureasures, take over cities, or topple govers."
"But no matter what it asks, or demands of me, I mustn’t ply."
"It’s a pity that all my possessioaken. Otherwise, I’d have had wyvern venom on hand, ready to take my own life if necessary."
Alger gritted his teeth, mentally preparing for the torture to e.
Sure enough, three burly bugbears soon lumbered down the corridor.
They struggled to unlock the iron lock with a crude key, removed the thick s ed around the cell door, and slowly pulled it open.
The doorway was entirely blocked by the bugbears’ hulking bodies, leaving no room for escape.
"e with me, human. The master wants to see you."
One of the bugbears crouched down as it ehe cell and approached Alger.
"Don’t touch me."
Alger growled menagly.
But the bugbear ignored him, grabbing his shackles and winding the around its hand before dragging him out of the cell.
bears closed in, lifting him eo ensure he couldn’t escape.
"This humaried to bribe me!"
"But I wasn’t buying it, haha!"
"Sant before, but look at him now."
"Yeah, those wyverns are useless—couldn’t handle a single human. They don’t deserve all that meat."
"Exactly, they should just give it all to us."
The bugbears chattered among themselves, mog him as they hauled him along.
Weakened and shackled, the giant eagle knight couldn’t resist.
Had he been s through the sky on his eagle, Alger was fident he could take these monsters down single-handedly, even toy with them.
But in this dungeon, weakened and bound, the proud eagle knight had no choice but to ehe rough handling from these brute bugbears, utterly powerless to resist.
